Tom Carper

We should do a top-to-bottom review of the Department and try to figure out how we go about reauthorizing the Department.

I love to do customer calls, and my guess is Dr. Coburn and Senator Pryor also do this back home.

When you jammed together 22 different agencies 10 years ago, different cultures, different financial systems, different accounting systems, it is not easy.

We must seek to recapture that spirit of unity that prevailed 12 years ago today

The threat is too great and the consequences of inaction are too severe to do nothing.

I think we have just a renewed spirit of cooperation and collegiality. I hope it extends beyond this week, and I am encouraged that it will.

What do we need to be doing here to support those activities so that those thousands, tens of thousands of people we deployed on the border can be more effective.

I supported the immigration reform bill. I did so. I was not convinced that we really need to add 20,000 Border Patrol officers down on the border given how many we have there.

I think you provided part of that answer already in what you just said.

We think that is part of creating a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation.

I think it is a good idea and this has been a very good hearing.

We will be penny wise and pound foolish if we do not continue to invest in DHS' management support functions.

We are not in this by ourselves. It is not just the Federal Government. It is not just State or local government. It is just government. We are all in this together, so that is good.

Mr. President, there are about six or so departments that do not have a permanent, confirmed Inspector General.

We have passed in the Senate and we expect the House to adopt today a budget resolution that carries through the end of September.

I do not mind paying taxes. Some people say, I do not even mind paying more taxes. I just do not want you to waste my money.

Dr. Gilfillan, thank you so much for assuming these responsibilities for our country. The work that you are doing, the work at the Innovation Center, is just so important.

The only people that do not make mistakes are the people that do not do anything.

We are in this together, and we need to be able to work together.

What can we be doing at the Federal level to make the rest of this team, including State and local governments, including emergency responders, including insurers, what can we do, what should we be doing in addition to what we have already…

I would just urge that there be a good exchange of information between your staff as you staff up and the work that has been done by his investigators.

In each disaster we learn something new.

I was down along the border of U.S. and Mexico in Arizona with Senator McCain.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

How do we measure success? Is it the number of folks we apprehend trying to get into the country illegally?